HOUSTON – A ’90s model ballplayer arrives in the major leagues, proceeds to inflate his muscles by this means or that, then trains his eyes on the outfield fences and the potential statistics they represent. The little aspects of playing winning baseball take a secondary role and never are learned properly in part because thosesubtleties don’t give a ballplayer buying power.

You know the type – Ryan Klesko, Sammy Sosa, countless others.

And then there is Edgardo Alfonzo, as efficient a model of how to play winning baseball as can be found anywhere in the National League.

As for muscles, his bat has plenty.

Rewriting several pages of the Mets’ record book in a 17-1 rout of the Astros last night, Alfonzo went 6-for-6, scored six runs, drove in five, homered three times, doubled and singled twice for 16 total bases.

Alfonzo joined Jimmy Wynn and Jeff Bagwell as the only players to homer three times at the Astrodome.

“None of ’em were cheap,” Bagwell said. “They never are here. They were no-doubters. When they left the bat, you could see they were gone. He’s locked in right now. I thought he might hit five.”

It wouldn’t have been his style to achieve a number no one ever had because Alfonzo is a player who is about so much more than numbers.

He was born with the instincts to forever make the right decisions on a baseball field. His intelligence and passion for the game enabled him to gain superior knowledge. He was blessed with soft hands and nurtured a strong arm by using it every day on the sandlots of Venezuela.

A shortstop all his life, the Mets asked him to play second base briefly in the minors, before making him a third baseman in the majors.

He played third as if he had been doing it his entire life. Then the Mets acquired Robin Ventura and told Alfonzo to switch to second base, a move he welcomed.

He learned the game from the inside-out, instead of the fashionable method of outside-in, as in “hit it outside the fence and stay in the money.”

Alfonzo made himself a terrific No. 2 hitter, then when all else was in place, learned how to become a power hitter.

Alfonzo came to the plate with two chances to hit a fourth home run, in the eighth and ninth, and he singled and doubled.

When a pitcher is closing in on a no-hitter, he is left alone in the dugout, not a word spoken to him.

Did Alfonzo get the same treatment when he took his hacks at trying to join a select group of players who have homered four times in one game?

Alfonzo, who takes something of a stoic approach to the game, couldn’t help but smile at times during his career night.

Normally, he isn’t about flashy numbers as much as consistent, versatile contributions.

Alfonzo and Rey Ordonez form one of the best double-play combinations in the game. They don’t have the combined range of the Reds’ duo of Barry Larkin and Pokey Reese or Ohio’s other middle infield tandem of Omar Vizquel and Roberto Alomar, but they make all the plays and have magical hands.

In a salary-arbitration age in which it doesn’t always pay to make the winning play instead of the paying play, Alfonzo forever is true to the game.

He always has been a better player than his numbers. Still is, though his numbers read more like those of an All-Star outfielder than a middle infielder who hits behind runners when the game situation calls for it.

Thirty games remain on the schedule and already, Alfonzo, batting .319, has 106 runs scored, 23 home runs and 94 RBIs.

“He’s getting stronger, it seems like every year,” Mike Piazza said. “You probably have to mention him among the top second basemen with Biggio and Alomar. Offensively and defensively he’s right there.”

He doesn’t run as well as either Biggio or Alomar. Other than that, physically and mentally he’s in the same league.

Brain cramps? He has none on a baseball field.

“He’s a baseball player,” Valentine said. “As far as flat-out mental mistakes, I don’t think there are any. He has a very good awareness of the situation and he has a fondness for the game.”

In many ways, Alfonzo is a Derek Jeter without the same range in the field or speed on the basepaths.

After a good week in a game such as last night’s, Alfonzo might have kissed the underrated tag goodbye.

“I don’t know how everyone views the image of Alfonzo, but we rely on him,” winning pitcher Masato Yoshii said. “We know we can’t win this thing without him.”